Magic's Touch of Night
by ComradeLeon
Summary: Happily married couple Zatanna and Dick will have to face the world to protect their son Jason. With the help of friends from The Team and the Justice League, they will fight against seemingly insurmountable odds. From the deepest trenches of the seas to the void of deep space and even the madness that lurks in the shadows, an acrobat and enchantress will prevail.
1. Innocence to Preserve

**A/N:** **I don't own anything from the DCU. I do own some of the original concepts and characters I might use in the future which I will point out so no one gets confused.**

 **We start with a new fic. I have no idea how long this will be but it'll be worth it.**

"Mama" A little baby in a crib gurgled. Her expression suddenly made the entire room brighten.

"Jason?" She carried the baby and held him close.

"Mama, mama," The baby, Jason, smiled and pointed at her hair. There were tears in her eyes as she kissed the bay over and over again, eliciting giggles and laughter.

"Dick! Dick! Come quick!" She yelled to the other room.

"Mama, mammmma!"

"What, what's wrong." Dick Grayson ran into the room, carrying one of his Escrima sticks.

"Come!" She hurried him over and gave him the baby. Dick carried the child carefully and held him tight.

"Now, Jason, who am I?" Zatanna asked pointing towards her.

"Mamma!" Dick was dumbfounded and awestruck. Jason Giovanni Grayson's first word was Momma. He twirled the baby around and laughed. Jason also joined in and Zatanna rested on a chair, smile etched on her pretty face.

"Not fair." Dick propped Jason above his shoulders, letting the baby ride on his back. "You had more time with him." He approached Zatanna and pulled her into a kiss. It lasted for several moments before they parted.

She stuck her tongue out. "So, who wins?" Dick asked his wife while pulling her in close.

" _wohs gnitteb draob"_ She incanted and a golden box appeared before the two. The board was divided into two columns, Under "Papa" was only Garfield. The rest was under "Mama".

"I didn't know how much faith they had in me." He scrolled through the board to find Batman listed under "Mama".

"Even Bruce." He looked at his wife and Zatanna could only smile. "Aww, is my little bird about to cry?" She teasingly asked.

He kissed her again. His hand reached across her back and pulled her in close. Zee moaned into the kiss and Richard started a trail of kisses from her jaw to her neck.

"I swear, you only get better at this." She said in between intakes of breaths. He carried her up bridal style and went out of the baby's room to their own.

Once they were there, he lay her down on the bed, lips still connected and ripped her shirt open. Zatanna threw her head back and enjoyed the moment. Richard stopped only to take his shirt off and continued once the garment was removed. He trailed kisses from the neck to her collar and snaked his hand to the pin of her bra to unclasp it. But before he could do the deed, his communicator beeped.

" _All members of the Justice League and The Team, report to the Watch Tower immediately."_ It was the brooding voice of Batman. Zatanna heard this and sighed. Richard hung his head down in defeat.

"I swear, every time we get close. He's like a giant cockblock." He pushed a button on the nightstand and his wardrobe flipped to reveal his costume.

" _tiftuo egnahc"_ Zatanna said and her costume was on. She looked at the wall where the Nightwing costume was on but was not surprised when it was already on said hero. Their eyes met for a second.

"Third time's the charm?" She meekly said and Dick nodded. "Now," She put a fist out and Nightwing acknowledged this. He also put a fist out and bumped it.

"Let me just go get Jason." She scurried out of the room to pick up their son.

"Ready?" He asked as he placed his escrimas in the holster.

" _latrop ot tseraen atez ebut."_ She muttered out and a portal opened. They stepped in and was gone in a blink.

 **[-]-[-][-]-[-][-]**

' _Recognized, Zatanna 2-5, Nightwing B-0-1, Jason Grayson A-1-7.'_ The tube announced and in a light came three figures.

There in the Watch Tower were about half of the Team and almost all of the League. They looked at them and to the baby. Billy approached the couple and said "Here, I'll take him to his room." The couple nodded and Zatanna gave him their precious child. Shazam held Jason carefully and flew to the quarters where the League made a room for the child. They never left Jason alone with a sitter because the last time they did, the baby was held hostage and Nightwing came close to killing the bastard. With the approval of the League and Superboy's agreement of keeping his music down, they turned one of the rooms into a baby-proof, superhero themed paradise for the little boy. M'gann was only to too happy to look over such an adorable little creature.

"Thank you Billy." Nightwing called out to the fading image of Shazam. They walked to the gathering of people when the Zeta again opened.

' _Recognized, Batman 0-2, Batgirl B-1-6, Red Robin B-2-0, Robin B-3-2"_ Four of the Five members of the Bat Family walked across the Hall, now the gathering is complete. Nightwing stepped towards them, he could see Tim's arm had been cut severely and Damian's cheek was bleeding.

"What happened?" He stopped Tim and studied his arm, likewise to Damian.

"The Joker." Bruce said as he walked calmly to the front of the Gathered. He swiped his hand and Holograms of tonight's encounter appeared. Nightwing did not look so surprised. It's not like the Joker to disappear and not do anything for over a year.

"It has been one year since the last confirmed Joker Crime in Gotham." Batman started and everyone listened intently.

"He suddenly resurfaced and murdered everyone in Gotham's Police Department save for Jim Gordon." There shown a picture of the Police Commissioner. "As you all know, Joker cut off his face before he escaped the previous year and later came to retrieve what was his."

"I don't get it, you didn't gather all of us here just for that." The Flash said tapping his feet.

"I'll cut to the chase. The two Robins followed a lead we had, but it turns out it was an ambush by ten people… which all happen to be The Joker." Bruce simply said as he played the footage from the warehouse the two robins were in and indeed there were Jokers.

"It gruesome." Tim said and everyone looked at him. "They were the real deal. It was the Joker. The way he fought, the way he moved. It's been drilled into us how the Joker plays and Damian and I agree that it can't been a group of wannabes because The Joker is the only person who could play the Joker." Tim raised his hand to Zatanna who stopped mending him and raised Damian. "Black Canary, if you want a debrief, we'll be in the medical bay." He rose and limped away with Damian.

"That isn't all. This is the footage from an hour ago in Berlin Germany." The holograms raised to see a multiple of Jokers robbing a bank and one of them engage the police in combat.

"From Taipei." It was a carnival shoot out, three jokers carrying heavy guns were shooting up in the air.

"Cape Town, South Africa." A building exploded, debris flying everywhere and out the front door was a Joker dragging a lady and tossing her to the ground and shot her. A multitude of Jokers also came out.

"All of these happened not 3 hours ago." Batman raised another set of holograms which depicted hundreds of Jokers from all over the world.

"What are we doing here then?" Hawkgirl said holding up her mace. "Because there are no more sightings of Joker. They came and went off faster than any of the Zetas could get us there. Superman already scoured the scene for a trail but found nothing."

"Projections maybe. Hard light holograms like Mirror Master's." Flash suggested.

"Mirror Master is in Belle Reve, I put him there yesterday." Impulse said amazingly keeping quiet for the entire time.

"What about clones?" Wonder Woman said. Batman shook his head. "He's too complicated for cloning."

Each team and League member bounced off ideas while Nightwing was analyzing the videos. Nothing seemed unusual. Yet. He happened to stop at a certain video from a Hospital in Mexico and was shocked and horrified to see what this has all become.

"Hey Batman. Pull up the Mexican Hospital Footage." Nightwing said. Everyone looked at the holograms Batman put up and Nightwing slowly scrolled through them.

"There!" The frame consist of a Joker, holding a gun to a doctor's head while he was examining a patient. "What about it? A joker with gun. How original." Garfield said with a bored expression but M'gann slapped his shoulder. He yelped and massaged his arm.

The scene continued. The Joker shot the gun but a Flag with the word "BANG" on it came out. The Joker was surprised and pointed the gun's mouth to his eye, examining it. It was like watching a comedy skit, only two seconds later the Joker pulled the trigger. Splattering blood all over the two people. Some of the league flinched and the members of the Team grimaced.

"Is that it esse?" Blue Bettle asked but Nightwing shook his head. "Watch."

Everyone was surprised to see the doctor started to laugh uncontrollably. He banged his head on the wall and slowly his brown skin grew whiter and whiter, his hair started growing and becoming green. When he stopped his banging he turned around to the camera to show a very maniacal grin. The doctor proceeded to laugh and laugh. He took a pen and started stabbing the person on the bed over and over.

Nightwing stopped the video. Everyone was silent. Everyone was reflecting. It was at this time Shazam came back to the meeting. Looking around at the silent people, he asked. "Sooooo, what happened."

Batman stepped down from the front and voiced out what everyone was thinking.

"Joker's blood. It's contaminating everyone it touches with the same substance it turned Joker into what he became."

"Basically, we're looking at a Joker Zombie Apocalypse." Flash said silently.

"We're fucked aren't we?" Atom said.

Nightwing hugged Zatanna, petting her head. Superman looked out the window and to the Earth below, thinking about the ways he could stop this from happening. The league and the Team were starting to leave, save for the people who lived in the Watch Tower. Dick and Zatanna were also staying the night.

"I've calibrated the Watch Tower and ran Joker's facial recognition over all the system. We'll find him. So far, nothing come up even if there are more than a hundred Jokers out there." Cyborg said from the computer. Batman nodded.

"Route anything Joker related to the Batcave. Goodnight Victor." Batman said as he walked over to Superman to pat his back. They both said nothing, but Batman read as slight movement from Superman, signifying the thanks.

 **[-]-[-][-]-[]-[**

"Mama!" Young Jason said as his chubby little arms were outstretched and tried to reach Zatanna who was leaning over the crib.

It has been almost a week since the last Joker attack and nothing came up of anything. The League informed the press and the entire world is in red alert. The Hospital in mexico which they had hoped to find a sample of Joker's blood was destroyed, caught on fire, and was eaten by a tornado all in the span of fifteen minutes after the attack. Nightwing knew better than to say it was all a coincidence.

Zatanna held her baby close to her, vowing to put a stop on the Joker Virus for the safety of their son. NIghtwing was in his office/cave studying the case files about the Joker Incident. He combed his hair as he read line after line of paragraph from mountains for folders. _Subjected to High Velocity Blunt Force Trauma,_ or _Shot repeated times through the spinal column,_ the list just goes on. Those weren't even the ones to get infected, they were the ones the infected killed. Each file more gruesome than the last. More decapitation and gutting, more severe singe handed crimes made by a villain who came and went. He dropped the current file he was reading on the desk and sighed heavily. He looked at the picture on his desk, the one with Zatanna and baby Jason in it. So happy, and so lovely. It reminded him of all the innocence he wanted to preserve in the world, to give a his son a childhood he never got. He vowed to himself that they will see this through.

He read the case files once more, but each deteriorating second he wonders if he could actually pull through this without any of these bastards paying with their lives.

 **A/N: Thoughts or Feedback?**


	2. Visionary's Heir

"I was thinking of GU for Jason's university." Nightwing voiced over as he hit a penguin gang member repeatedly with his two escrimas. He blocked another gang member from jumping down on Zatanna by throwing his escrima to the poor man's face. He dodged another slash from umbrella-swords from a goon who thought he had him by surprise.

"Can we not talk about this right now? _yhW t'nod ouy nem peels?_ " Zatanna incanted from above the goons who were shooting automatics towards her. The instantly slouched down and began snoozing, unaware of the ruckus Nightwing was doing to the other members of the group.

"Really?" Nightwing ducked below and delivered an uppercut. "You were the one who started this whole conver-" Punch, escrima pound, dodge, dodge, twirl and kick in the solar plexus the three goons who tried to outnumber the Bat protégé. "sation. Wait, give me a minute." He ran around, throw his one escrima to hit the goon in his jewels, then proceed to take him down.

"Take your time sweetie." The floating magician, having defeated her share, did a cross legged sitting position in the air, her chin in one hand, a smile on her lovely face.

"One more" Nightwing said as he punched the goon before he delivered a kick to the shin then a chop on an artery. Zatanna only made a sound of approval. The last goon stood, arms shaking and sweat dripping.

Nightwing smiled as well and threw projectiles from his belt onto the only light source. Thank the heavens that it was night outside or else the ploy would not work so properly.

Bathe in the dark, the lone goon backed up against a wall, a large knife on one hand and his life on the other.

"You think this scares me? When I'm thru with you, Mr. Penguin will give me a reward for dissing the Bat's brat and the magic chick." Voice raspy and legs shaking, hopefully the taunt was enough for NIghtwing to leave him alone.

The goons heart beat quicker and quicker, hearing the wind break from the left he looked, the sound rose from the right, he looked. He shifted, took a step forward, glanced back but was futile because of the darkness.

"What's the meaning of this?" The lights suddenly turned on, the confused goon looked around and saw the Penguin walking in with three muscled men holding rifles and shotguns. "Oi you, what happen to my men? What happened to my orders?"

"Sorry Mr. Penguin sir, we started filling the underground storage facility like you told us to. The Bat brat and the magic chick got the jump on us, but lucky for us we sealed the compartment before any of them could see what was inside." The goon looked around, he could see the unconscious men that were scattered on the floor, hopefully still breathing.

"Well, out it then, let me see the inside." Penguin's cracking accent hoarsely commanded the goon. "Yes Sir". He walked to the edge of the warehouse but stopped and looked back at the Penguin.

"What are you looking at? You want your balls cut of?" Cobblepot raised a hand and one of the men behind him pulled out a very long and sharp knife. The goon paled significantly before pressing the buttons on the wall.

"687BHJ1992KI99724946LY2387" The door opened with a loud thud.

"Now." Penguin's voice changed to Zatanna's dreamy tone. The goon raised his knife and threw it at penguin. The Penguin began to fade, seeing as he hit nothing but the air around him.

"Thank you for opening the door." Nightwing whispered before knocking the poor man out.

"You know," Zatanna started as she examined the door. "We could've just made him tell us the code. With your intellect, Im sure you could memorize the code a goon could recall." Zatanna saw traces of runes carved into the steel of the door. 'No wonder I can't open it.'

"Well I did almost beat Bruce at Chess." Nightwing said as he took her hand and led her down the facility.

"Wow, that is an achievement." Zatanna began.

"This is, wow."

"I hope there isn't a girl there Richard." Zatanna didn't have the adjusted sight Dick had in the dark so she had to say " _thgil"_ before she could see the giant compartment in the warehouse.

Stacks and stacks of guns, weapons, money and even exotic animals were beneath the abandoned warehouse. Stretching from end to end, one could see names of criminals from Firefly to Two-Face, Scarecrow to even LL, which in no surprise, held a gigantic suit of armor for Luthor.

"So is this like, what? A storage compartment facility of weapons." Zatanna whistled. She saw Ra's exhibit and decided to take a closer look.

"Don't touch anything Zee." Dick called out. Zatanna only said yeah.

"Nightwing to Watchtower."

"Watchtower." Cyborg's voice was on the intercom.

"Batman's lead on the Joker Bloods had us the fortune of stumbling into an Armory of old weapons and gadgets from various villain throughout. It's like a depot center of everything evil."

"Batman is already on his way. Keep on the look out for the blood. Its vital."

"Nightwing out."

"Hey Nighty, look." Zee's voice echoed from the far end of the warehouse and like the trained athlete he was, arrived beside zee not a moment later.

What he saw was their objective. Written in bold white letters was the name Joker on the wall, and below it only held one item, a vial of his blood.

"Now we know why this place is so heavily fortified." Zee sighed.

"Then why did Penguin leave the code to a nobody." Nightwing asked.

"Simple really." The menacing voice reverberated through the walls and Zatanna noticeably turned white.

"Little bird, have you ever thought this to be a trap? Of course you haven't" The voice seemed to come from all direction. Which was followed by a sadistic laugh. Nightwing and Zatanna put their backs together., protecting each other.

"And you Ms. Zatara, how's the powers?" The voice was louder, moving in closer.

" _tniopnip eht noitacol_ " But nothing happened. "I'm out." Zee's sweat dropped but Nightwing only leaned on her to assure her.

"Ah yes, magic is such a wonderful thing. Useless without. You relied on it too much Little Bird, you got careless. HEHEHEHAHAHHAHA" The Joker's piercing laugh made their skin crawl.

"My old chap Klarion, oh a wonderful boy, has potential for being the Lord of Chaos , but lacks the imagination to be one. A gift of vengeance he said but I'm not into that sort of thing." Joker appeared in front of both of them, the next thing the couple knew was their hands and feet were tied in a very thick set of ropes.

Richard grunted and squirmed as he tried to break free. Zatanna's mouth was quickly duct taped by gloved hands.

"You see little bird, you're not the only one with a magical partner. In fact I have one right here." The lights were turned on, they saw The Joker, arm outstretched. There was pendant hanging from his neck, a crowbar on one hand and a gun in the other. There was the skin of a cat, Teekl, draped over his shoulders. He turned around and they saw Klarion, tied on each limb to the Joker's back, tongue sticking out and eyes rolled back. Zatanna was wide-eyed, How ever did the Joker manage to kill the Devil boy. "Don't know why he hasn't rotten yet, I mean the way he acts is just as bad as I am. Wait, no one is as bad as I am. Anyway." He walked forward towards Nightwing who was completely silent. He whispered into his ear. "I have a surprise for you." He waved his crowbar and reached into a sudden portal. The Clown prince pulled out a sleeping baby.

Richard's eyesight turned red, recognizing the infant. Zatanna was on the verge of tears, realizing what was happening. There, in the arms of the Clown Prince of Crime, was baby Jason, comfortably sleeping, dreaming about little animals and puppet shows, completely unaware of the situation.

"You bastard! I'll kill you!" Richard shouted and managed to break free of the bonds. He held the small knife he used to cut the rope ice-pick style and charged the Jester. Joker clicked his cheek and waved the crowbar. Dick found himself in the bunds again, this time in chains, laid beside Zatanna.

"Look little birdy, be too loud and you'll wake the baby." The Joker made a kissy face towards Jason who was still blissfully sleeping.

"What do you want?" Zatanna was crying and Richard barely had he voice to speak due to his cloud of rage.

"I see myself as… well… a visionary. I want to rid the world of all crazy." He said as he rocked the baby . Jason only shifted slightly. "A good visionary needs to pass on his teachings. Don't you ever think I never thought about killing this child, I mean he isn't my first and certainly isn't the last. The way their brains spill when you hit them just right, oh how remarkable!"

"So, while I was stalking you, you know," He licked his lips, his face almost falling off. "Like I always do, sweet baby bird was dropped off at the resident alien neighbors. Who knew Superboy would be such a pussy, susceptible to Magic? I mean, I expected more from a Superman wannabe but come on. It was a single blast through his aorta, no problem. Big ol' Supes could've handled more!" He pointed his crowbar at a spot on the wall and then a bright flash of light disintegrated the vial of blood it was containing. "Pity for him. But I didn't recognize the Martian Girlhunter until the very. She thought she could fry my brain!?" Joker wiped his brow. "Now that was funny, I mean what's there to fry? I didn't know she could scream in a soiree of languages!" Joker imitated a screaming motion. Nightwing was panting heavily, Zatanna's hands were glowing. Nothing, no spark, no dust.

"Ahh Mrs. Wing, I must suggest you stop that. The more you use your magic, the more Clitarion here sucks it up." Joker gestured to the dead magician to his back.

"You fucker! I'll kill you I swear it!" Dick shouted! Jason began crying which made Joker laugh. He rocked the baby and sang.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Good ol' Joker will kill a bird, and if the bird don't die" He hit Dick on the face with the Crowbar. Zatanna screamed and Dick spat out blood. "Then Joker's gonna murder his wife. HEHEHEHEAHAHAHAHA" Dick quit squirming. Jason stopped crying and fell back asleep.

"See little baby Joker here saw me kill and torture the alien love couple. Poor Superboy, saw me skin alive the Martian. After diving in my brain and find nothing but the dark I have, well lets just say I fried her space brain back up to Jupiter." The Clown waved his Crowbar, admiring it.

"Did you know, subjected to the most exquisite of pain, Martians transform into various shapes and sizes, while little Joker here was laughing and giggling. As I got to her scalp, oh what fun was it to rip the skin of her little green back. But I'm skipping ahead."

Joker stepped forward to Zatanna and ripped the tape off of her mouth.

"Now baby momma, what's the name of this fine young Jester?"

"Go to hell" She spat. Once again the Joker clicked his tongue. He raised the crowbar and repeatedly beat Richard. Over and over again, side, back, front, head, spine. Shin, chin.

"Oh how I remember dear ol' Robin. How nimble and fragile he was" Again and again the Clown would hit Nightwing.

"Stop, please." Zatanna pleaded. Nightwing rose his head and smiled.

"Ah, I like that, You have some fight in you. That pesky little bird I swatted all those years ago was nothing but talk about how the Batman would come and save him. Oh how he begged." The Joker laughed.

"Jason." Joker spun around and received a gigantic fist to his face, removing the stapled feature off. Batman started his preemptive barrage on the Clown, immediately cutting off the bounds that held Klarion to him. Batman also cut of the mysterious pendant on him. Nightwing snapped the chains and grabbed the falling infant. Jason started to wail and cry.

Zatanna's eyes started to glow. " _ouY lergnom! ouY kniht taht eseht senur evah dloh fo em? I ma annataZ arataZ, rethguad fo inavoiG arataZ, tnerruc rotcoD etaF, dna on rettam woh gnorts noiralK si,"_ Batman dodged the Crowbar that was aimed at his jaw and threw a Batarang to disorient him. The joker Pulled out a gun from his belt and fired the round but only a Bang Flag was on it. "Come on!" Nightwing threw one of his escrima at Batman who caught it and began to spar with the Joker, Escrima versus Crowbar.

" _I lliw eb regnorts. oS og dna netaerht ym ylimaf,"_ Each word was building up inside Zatanna, her powers were elevating.

"Zee, anytime now!" Dick called out but he couldn't reach her. Meanwhile Batman struck the Joker on the side of his fleshy face. "Hey, Bats!" Batman punched again, "Hey, is that a way to greet an old friend."

"Quiet!" His voice was commanding and brooding.

" _partS mih nwod!"_ Zatanna's voice echoed and the wires in the ground coiled around the Clown.

" _kaerB sih gel,"_ There was a craking noise and Joker laughed.

" _ereveS sih enips,"_ The Joker laughed even louder!

"Zatanna, that's enough!"Batman said.

"Zee please. Look, we're okay."Nightwing said as he held little Jason who reached for his mask.

" _tleM sih –"_

"Mama!" Jason gurgled as he pointed to the floating woman.

"Mama! Mama!" He repeated over and over again. Zatanna was silent, the air around her calmed down and without pause slowly descended from her floating space, her eyes stopping it's glow.

Nightwing and Jason approached the unconscious mother on the ground, repeating the words "I love you" and "I'm sorry". Nightwing never let go of the two most precious things in his life, his wife and son.

"Send a pickup to my coordinate. Bring a containment cell."

"Come now Bats, you aren't going to open me up and experiment on me right? You scared bats?" The Joker, who for some maniacal reason won't die, laughed out loud.

Batman gave a shadow of a smirk. He evaded a lethal mistake he should never have done. May Jason's soul rest where ever it may be. Dick almost suffered about a tenth of what happened to Jason. The Caped Crusader looked over to his adopted son and to his family, Jason who was looking at him mouthed "Ganpa!" followed by a chuckle.

Nightwing was calmed down for the most part. HE could still hear the laugh of that psychopath but he clamed up and treasured the warmth provided by the people he loved the most. The only thing Richard has in his head, was all of it true? He learned from Batman to never let the Things Joker say get to you because all of them are fake. He still couldn't shake the feeling of dread about what the Clown Prince told him about Jason.

"Cy,"

"Cyborg,"

"Check on Miss Martian and Superboy, see if they're alright." One thing was for sure, Zatanna and him would always love Jason. Kissing the top of the Magician's head, he was relived to here that none of their resident aliens were harmed, but they were frantic to see the crib without a tiny creature in it.

Ah, yes, he was relieved, for the moment. But deep down Nightwing knew, this was all calm compared to the storm that's about to come.


End file.
